Naruto: The Ninja Gaiden
by xXPOPPXx
Summary: *post canon, pre-shippuden* During Naruto's training, the Chuunin Exams are held once again, filled with even more drama, action, and secrets than before. New faces appear, and things get complicated when some people's secrets come back to haunt them
1. Chapter 1

**author note: CHARACTERS ARE ACCEPTED ONCE MORE, though the rules are on my profile, so please head over there for more information. ALSO, this is set AFTER PART ONE, but BEFORE SHIPPUDEN.****_ You will see canon characters, and and some will be pretty important._**** Now, without further ado... I present the relaunched version of...**

* * *

Naruto:

The Ninja Gaiden

* * *

Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins

* * *

Squatting was _not _a comfortable position. Really; it wasn't. My thighs were becoming sore, and I had only a limited range of sight as I could only turn my body so much to view my surroundings. _Crap._ I ran a hand through my mid-length dark red locks in a frustrated fashion.

If only I'd actually started thinking over my plans. _Thoroughly_. I mean, I had a nasty habit of coming up with an idea and acting on it mere seconds later before even considering how I would accomplish said plan…

…Which was kind of how I had ended up in my current dilemma; squatting behind a lumpy tree.

The lumpy tree bark was digging into my back, too, causing a frown to deepen on my tanned face. I didn't particularly _like _being prodded in the back- to be quite frank, I didn't particularly like being touched _at all_. But considering the fact that I was more or less screwed if I made even the slightest movement…

I continued to press my back against the bumpy tree, admittedly with a sour air about me. One of her hands gripped a kunai tightly, the other curling around the edge of the thick trunk. Footsteps were closing in, crunching noisily through twigs and crisp fallen leaves. My body stiffened at the sound.

They were heavy, I thought; definitely too loud to be Hiro. Hiro was the type to ghost over the ground, to sneak across the battlefield so quietly, one could hardly keep tabs on his whereabouts.

I gritted her teeth, taking a deep breath through her nose, and out of my open lips. It wasn't Hiro, so a head on attack could work. In theory. Just sitting around wasn't doing anything, anyway… Hmph. A few steps closer, and I'd attack.

_Pit…pat…_

_Pit…pat…_

_Pit…_

_'Now!'_

I slammed the toes of my navy ninja shoes into the earth to propel myself forward, branding my knife tightly in hand. "_Kya_!" I cried, slashing the kunai across the gut of my adversary. The boy's hazel eyes widened in utter shock, as if the mere thought of an attack landing was unfathomable. Please. _I was a freaking surgeon with a knife._

Only, within milliseconds of the knife meeting skin, the dark skinned boy exploded in a cloud of smoke. "Perfect," I muttered. Roka had escaped my grasp yet again. And the fact that I now had no idea where he had went didn't brighten my mood any, either.

_I am so losing right now._

"Akira-San."

And… then there was Hiro. Perfect timing as usual—_not_.

Whipping around, I prepared to attack. The moment my eyes met Hiro's amber ones, however, I found myself staring down three large ice shards. Stifling a scream from ripping out of my throat, I quickly flipped out of the way, watching as the ice-spears dug deep into the poor tree that had stood behind my, prior to melting into water and retreating back to Hiro.

There was a small smile on Hiro's face as he kept his eyes trained on the area where his teammate had been seconds before rather than my new hiding spot, a perch hidden well in the tree leaves. Not that he didn't already know that I was hiding somewhere in that vicinity. Hiro was good at sensing people, just like I was.

Though, Hiro _had_ managed to sneak up on me yet again. Frowning, I mentally went over the last few minutes, trying to remember if there had been anything to signify Hiro's appearance. Bewildered, I gritted my teeth again. I hadn't picked up on anything. It was like the boy had just appeared. Wasn't the first time, though, and surely wouldn't be the last.

"Akira-San." I froze. Did Hiro know where I was? That wasn't good. Slowly, slowly, I crept backwards on my branch in hopes of escaping. "Akira-San," Hiro called again, looking up into the trees. His eyes wandered some before stopping; right on me. He seemed assessing the sweat that ran down the sides of my face. But that was impossible. Hiro couldn't actually _see_ me; there was no way. But then, there was always a way with Hiro. Always.

Before launching down, I tightened my grip on the kunai that I still had in hand.

"Got you now!" I cried, thrusting the weapon forward with the greatest amount of might she could muster. Hiro didn't bother to doge it. Instead, he let the knife slice his cheek prior to melting into a puddle of water.

Another clone? _Seriously_?

My cheeks colored in embarrassment as I roughly landed onto my feet before flipping away from the puddle and once again scanning the environment. "Damn it! Why do you guys keep doing this to me?" I whined. Honestly, I hadn't been expecting- or wanting- a response, but of course, Hiro chose that moment to step out into the light, wearing one of his too-pleasant smiles.

"Well, we are training right now," Hiro said calmly. "Aren't we, Roka?" My heart nearly stopped functioning when cool metal slid against my cheek, causing a thin stream of blood to glide from the newly made incision and down my throat.

"I win," Roka whispered in my ear, his warm breath tickling my skin. I wrinkled my nose at that, and before Roka knew what I was plotting, I rammed my elbow into his gut. He grunted, bending away from me and simultaneously loosening his hold on his kunai knife. I quickly snatched it from him and danced back a few steps, grinning devilishly at the black haired boy.

"You can't win against me," I laughed with confidence, taking in Roka's angered expression. Admittedly, his frustration brightened my mood quite a bit.

"Hey, that's not fair! You're supposed to give up the moment your opponent scratches you!" Roka cried, pointing an accusing finger at me. I just began batting my eyelashes in a childlike manner to annoy him further.

"Oh, but what cut did you land on me, Roka-kun?" I asked in an innocently mocking manner. Roka hesitated before leaning closer to me, his eyes zeroed in on the my face. Or more accurately, my cheek, which bore no sign of being sliced, cut, bruised, etc.

"… The _hell_!" The boy cried, stomping out of the shrubbery that had been between the two of us. "That's not fair! Not all of us have a healing reflex! You're cheating!" In a very mature manner, I stuck my tongue out at Roka, holding his knife in the air and dangling it.

"Come and get me, Roka," I teased. The boy jumped to the challenge, his anger obviously clouding his sense of reason. I slid a step back and released a quick jab to his gut. Roka twisted out of the way of the attack and reached for his knife. I snatched back again, but as Idid so, I stumbled over my feet and pitched backwards.

There wasn't a chance to fall, though- Hiro caught me. As usual.

"You should be more careful, Akira."

The smile he gave me was enough to make me blush with irritation- I didn't need nor _want_ anybody's help. "Okay, okay, I lose." I then proceeded to thrash out of Hiro's arms. The boy blinked at me with a cheerfully clueless expression, his smile still intact.

"Are you both ready to go meet C-sensei at the dango shop now?" Hiro asked as he dusted off his dark grey t-shirt. Well, I wasn't really sure if it was a t-shirt exactly, as it had a hood attached to it that Hiro wore up on a daily basis, but, the older boy's shirt _did _have short sleeves, which was kind of the same thing. But anyway.

"Dango shop?" Roka asked, his mood brightening immediately. If there was one thing Roka liked more than attention, it was dango. Particularly, he liked dango that wasn't being paid for with his own money. Hiro simply flashed us his characteristic cool-boy-smile, which I was 98% sure he'd inherited from C-sensei himself. "Come on, Akira, let's go get some Dango!" Roka cried excitedly, hopping from foot to foot in anticipation. My eyebrows furrowed as I watched the dark skinned boy, his caramel colored cheeks lighting up as he bounced around like an idiot.

"What makes you think I want to get dango with you two?" I asked, crossing my arms, "I mean, Hiro's all socially awkward and you're… well, you're _Roka_." Neither boy took offense- Hiro simply didn't seem to care in the slightest, what with the way he continued grinning at me. Roka, on the other hand, was distracted by the prospect of free dango. In fact, the boy was rambling about it, completely oblivious to us.

"…This is going to be so good, I love dango! Especially _free_ dango! Oh, I can already taste the warm, sweet, dango on my tongue…" To second that opinion, Roka's mouth began watering. I rolled my eyes, placing a hand to my forehead.

"Ugh, calm down," I grunted. Because if Roka gave me a headache, I was definitely going to kick his ass.

"Akira-San, not to sound rude, but do you really have a right to be telling Roka-San that? I mean, you have the most… um… _colorful_ mood on this team." I glared at Hiro, feeling the familiar burning sensation in my eyes. That happened whenever I was in battle, though sometimes when I was angry as well; the color of my irises changed to a pale grey as well. It was my kekkei genkai. Erm, kind of, anyway.

Hiro wasn't affected by my obvious anger, and instead, smiled even wider. "Oh, don't take offense to that," the pale boy said, "I rather like your personality. I'm merely pointing out a fact that-"

"Hiro."

"Yes, Akira-San?"

"Do me a favor, and _shut up_." Hiro's smile turned into a ghost of a smirk, but otherwise, he didn't react.

That was a-okay with me. I rather liked being able to snap at people and having them actually listen. It was empowering. Meanwhile, Roka impatiently tugged at Hiro's shirt sleeve.

"Come on, guys! We're gonna get some dango!" I snorted at Roka's impatience- though, once again, I had no place to talk. Ultimately, I trailed behind him as my two teammates exited the forest-like training ground on the mainland of Kumogakure. As I walked behind the boys, my eyes darted around the village like they always did. It wasn't a very colorful place, but I'd grown accustomed to it.

I still thought Kumo was pretty, what with all of the clouds and mountains.

"Hurry up, Akira!" Roka called over his shoulder, dragging me out of my musings. Hiro glanced back at me, like a worried mother duck looking after her duckling. I gave him a reassuring smile before hurrying after them.

In a matter of minutes, we made it through the graying streets and to the dango shop, just as the sun touched the edge of the horizon. Waiting inside for us, was none other than C, shaking the cup in his hand around and around a slow and steady circle. C looked rather relaxed at the moment, dressed in the typical neutral-colored attire of a Kumogakure jounin, his face in its usual serious expression. When he saw us, the side of his mouth lifted into a sort-of smile.

"Hey," I greeted, and started to take a seat across from the young man… but Roka beat me to it.

"Um," I started, "you're in my spot." Roka looked up at me with a mischievous smirk.

"I don't see your name on it." Grr.

"Roka, if you do not _remove your ass from my chair I swear I'll-_"

"So, you guys finally made it," C intervened, giving me a pointed look. I glared at C before choosing another spot, pointedly making sure it wasn't next to Roka. Said boy just smiled at me.

"Um… Hello, Sensei," Hiro greeted, bowing slightly. Hiro always bowed- whenever he saw somebody for the first time that day or just met them or something… he was a respectable kind of guy.

"Where's the dango?" Roka barked, nearly leaping over the table. C ignored Roka and instead turned his attention to Hiro and me.

"How was training?" C asked.

"It was pretty nice. Though, I think Akira-San needs to learn how to concentrate more," Hiro mused. To which I glared.

"Nobody likes a snitch, Hiro," I muttered under my breath.

C ignored me, as he usually did and let his eyes gaze at each of us. "I have some exciting news for you guys," C began, lifting his cup and taking a drag from the grey object.

"If it doesn't have anything to do with the arrival free dango and/or shipping Akira out of the village, than I am neither listening nor interested," Roka commented, keeping his tone serrated and edgy. I twitched.

"Hiro." My pale teammate turned to me. Still smiling, by the way.

"Yes, Akira-San?" Hiro asked lightly. I nodded my head towards Roka and pouted before I started my whining fest.

"Roka's being mean to me. Can you do something about it?" Hiro watched me closely, his blue eyes flying over my pouty lips, wide, tearing over eyes and flushed cheeks. Probably wondering if I was truly upset or not."Please?" I decided to add, for good measure.

"Are you serious?" Roka grunted. "She's obviously faking."

A short moment later, said boy was rubbing the back of his head, grumbling in irritation and pain. Hiro's bandaged hand was hanging in the air, a few centimeters from Roka's wild hair. He turned to me and smiled, ignoring how my mouth fell in a flabbergasted "o".

"Was that good?" Hiro asked me, placing his hand to the table as though he had never raised his hand to strike Roka.

"Um…" I blinked, feeling confused and at an utter loss for words. "Well…" Hiro was just blankly looking at me, smiling still. _What the heck_, I resolved with a quiet sigh. "Good job, Hiro. Couldn't have don't it better myself!" I laughed. Hiro laughed with me, his tame chuckle a lot less irritating to Roka than my peals of laughter.

Roka turned to me to say something else, yet before he could, C interrupted him.

"Geez. Being with you guys is like trying to teach math to a bunch of three year olds," C snapped, "you're distracted by everything." The thought silenced us- for the moment anyway. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, C pounced on the window of time to speak (scold, nag, beg, etc.) us. "Anyway…. Roka, you're kind of in luck. The news I'm going to tell you actually _does_ involve Akira leaving the village."

Okay, that wasn't funny. I grinded my teeth together.

"What?" I cried, my finger nails digging into my palms to form angry fists.

"Yay!" Roka exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air. It was like he had just been given the best gift in the world. Stupid jerk.

"Um," Hiro started, scratching the side of his face, "Sensei?" C ignored our reactions, barreling right on.

"Well, of course, we're all gonna to be leaving as well." At first, I could feel my eyes cooling from the burning hot grey to a manageable grey-brown, just a hair or two away from their usual hazel color. C wasn't trying to mess with me. Good. Then, I was confused.

"Huh?" I asked, feeling my fists unclench; the small crescent scrapes in my palm healing before I even released them.

"Aw," Roka grunted. His hands fell down heavily.

Hiro just leaned forward, curiosity making him tilt an eyebrow at C. C looked at each of us, studying our faces through his excited eyes.

"You three and I are going to Konoha to go through the Chuunin Exams." There was a pause as this news settled in. It seeped into me slowly, keeping me still. It seemed that the same affect was happening for the rest of my team as well. Hiro sat, wide eyed and tilting his head, 'hm-ing' as he thought over the news. Roka sat erect, his arms crossed tightly against his chest as he stared, eyes turned into slits, at C being very, very still…then…

"Oh my gawd, REALLY!" Roka cried, slamming his palms down on the table so hard that C's drink toppled to the floor. I hardly noticed.

"We're really going to Konoha?" I asked. C nodded his head. I had heard a lot about Konoha. Some good, some bad. C-sensei didn't particularly like Konoha, and often muttered about how everyone made a big deal out of a regular old village, but at the moment, I was very much interested in the idea of going there. I mean, the natives of Konoha… they were all so different… and some of the most dangerous criminals came from there.

"We'll be leaving at dawn and riding a boat to get to the Fire Country. That will take about 3 days or so…Then, we will travel on foot, being guided by some Konoha shinobi to the village hidden in the leaves, which will be about a two hour journey and then…" C shrugged his shoulders slightly as he reached for his cup before remembering, a bit grudgingly so, that it had been knocked over. "Then," C continued, trying to keep from reacting, "I'll tell you what's next if we can make it that far."

"_If_ we can make it that far?" I asked. "Why wouldn't we be able to make it that far?"

C's black eyes rested on me, flashed to Roka, and returned to me all in about two seconds. I knew exactly what the blonde had been insinuating.

"I can control myself," I huffed. Everyone, even Hiro, gave me a dubious look. "What? I can!" I cried. It took all I had not to let my eyes glow grey. Even when I stopped the knee-jerk reaction, it was hard to keep the anger from showing… it burned even more to keep it harbored just behind my irises, blurring my vision at the edges.

"Woah," Roka whistled, obviously amused. "You're face is turning red—now you're head really is as fat and round as a tomato!"

Ah, Screw it.

I lunged for Roka's throat, fangs open wide.

…

Being on a boat for 72 hours with Roka _without_ killing him was definitely going to be a lot harder than I thought.

* * *

**Like before, I will post drawings of Team C (Akira, Roka, Hiro) on DeviantArt soon so that you'll know what they look like and because I've been trying to draw them. **

**PS, C is a real character from Kumogakure- I just decided to use him as a sensei, since he was never introduced in part one and that doesn't alter the story line.**

**So I only own:**

**Akira, Hiro, and Roka thus far.**

**Everything else belongs to Kishimoto!**

**-GOD BLESS-**


	2. Chapter 2

**author note: I own nothing. NOTHING. **

* * *

Naruto:

The Ninja Gaiden

* * *

Chapter 2: The Boat Ride

* * *

"Come on, Akira-San, let go of that pole."

"No, I rather like this pole, thank you."

"But the ship's about to leave."

"Aw, such a tragedy."

...

"Dude! Let me go!" I protested as Hiro easily lifted me up and carried me towards the ferry. I could hardly fathom how he'd been able to pull me hard enough that my claws- which I'd burrowed deep into the wooden pole I had been clinging on to- simply sliced right through. And he didn't even look like he _tried, _unlike Roka, who had pulled and tugged me without much of a result. When Roka saw that Hiro had succesfully detached me from my safety pole, the boy glared in another direction.

"I loosened it up for you," he muttered. Of course. Because that was _so _believable. Nonetheless, Hiro grinned at our teammate as if the latter had actually done something useful and proceeded to lead us towards the large ship. The ship that was floating on water. I felt a shiver run down my spine as I contemplated how hard it would be to hightail it out of there and hide from my teammates until the boat left. Surely it wouldn't be _that _hard. I mean, if I really wanted to, I could probably keep us from going to Konoha.

Taking another furtive glance at the ship, I decided that I _did _really want to escape.

I freaking hated boats. Moreso, I hated being on _water. _

While Hiro and Roka were distracted by trying to navigate through the crowds to find our sensei, I walked more and more slowly than the others. Soon, they were far ahead of me, and hardly seemed to notice that I was dropping a significant ways behind them. I grinned. And now it was time to make a break for it! In a hurried fashion, I spun on my heel and dashed towards the safe haven that was the dock.

...

Within seconds, the three of us made it onto the ship (Roka holding one of my arms, Hiro gripping the other). I wasn't very happy about it, seeing as I _hated _being on boats, but you know. I understood my teammates' desperation; it was either chase me down or kiss the Chuunin Exams goodbye. Even I didn't really want to miss the exams just because of my childish fear of being on water. Still, I'd be so much happier if Konoha was within _walking_ distance.

Once we were aboard and successfully located C, the four of us headed to where the cabins were. C had gotten two cabins; one for me and the other for all three guys to stay in. I felt a little guilty knowing that they'd all be crammed in one room while I got the other just because I was the only girl, but it didn't bother me enough to, say, offer up the other bed in my room. If having female parts meant I could get privacy, then who was I to complain?

I shut my room door after discussing a schedule with C (or, more accurately, C handing me said schedule and telling me not to be late while I moaned about my very short allotted time in the bathroom despite having my own) and examined the area around me. It wasn't too big, nor too small. Twin beds were on the far side of the room, and I was content to see that I had my own bathroom in there. Along with the bathroom, the room came with a vanity mirror and some drawers, and even a closet towards the back. I walked across the shag carpet and collapsed onto my bed with a sigh.

Maybe if I could go to sleep, I could pretend I wasn't actually on a boat. At the moment, it was docked, but I could still feel the sickening sways, the up and down motion the ship held in slow rhythmic movements. Ugh, made me sick to my stomach. As I turned over, I pulled the covers up over my head in an attempt to quickly and efficiently fall asleep...

* * *

Someone was trying to break my door down.

I immediately got to my feet and prepared myself for some sort of attack. Because no one snuck up on Chi Sakenomi Akira!

...Except, well, Hiro. And C. And Roka whenever he felt like being an adequate ninja. And, of course, most of the higher ranking ninja could probably sneak up on me if they wanted to...Um. But... besides all of them. No one snuck up on me, ever! Though, as I hastily scanned my room, I noticed that no one was actually in there with me. If that was the case, who on earth was banging on my-

"Akira! What the hell are you doing in there?" Roka? The knocking ceased for a moment and then the door swung open. "We were supposed to eat an hour ago!" My brow furrowed, partially in irritation that Roka was the "attacker", and partially out of confusion on how he'd opened my door with out a key. Roka noted my frustration and grinned. "C has an extra key; knew he needed it cuz he assumed your lazy ass wouldn't get out of bed." Well then.

"Assuming makes an ass of you and me," I snapped, stretching as I did so. "What time is it anyway?"

"Do I look like a clock to you?"

"Well, you have two arms and a face. That's good enough for me." Roka rolled his brown eyes.

"It's an hour passed noon. C is very upset with you. You know how much he likes his schedules." It was true. I did. It was part of the reason that I tried so hard _not _to follow them, because C put his schedule over everyone else's. Or, namely, mine. "Anyway, I saved you something. It's not that good now probably, since it's getting cold, but I figure it's better than nothing." Roka walked across the room while he spoke and handed the box of food to me. I stared at it with wide eyes, feeling a warmth spread across my chest.

Sometimes I really forgot that Roka was actually a really good friend.

I thanked him as I took the food, a grateful smile on my face. Roka nodded and plopped down beside me.

"You don't have to keep me company, you know," I told him. "I'm capable of eating on my own." Roka shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, C wants to know as soon as you're done eating so that we can go train." I blinked at that one.

"Train? On a _boat_? What kind of boat has a training ground?"

"One that I will own sometime in the future." My exasperated expression only made Roka laugh. "What? I can train on land _and _on sea! That'd be awesome!" Only Roka would actually _want _to train on a boat. More rational people such as myself could see the flaws of this design. Like:

"What if our kunai rip through the ship and it floods so we all drown?" I asked, feeling the food I'd started eating hardening in my stomach.

"What?" Roka asked, raising his thick eyebrows.

"I said-"

"No I heard you. I'm just confused on how you could be so dumb when you read so many books." I wrinkled my nose in confusion. Roka rolled his eyes at me before continuing. "You can't pierce a titanium plated ship with one tiny kunai."

"What if it was chakra laced?"

"...Well, good luck swimming to shore, Hag, cuz I sure as hell aren't saving your ugly ass."

Sometimes, I remembered that despite being a good friend, Roka was, to put it bluntly, an asshole.

* * *

Training.

Was.

Killer.

We didn't do anything hard, though. C actually just went over typical gen jutsu (Hiro was obviously flawless at this while Roka seriously struggled). Afterwards, we did a little cardio exercises and simple paper-bomb-making drills. However, due to my discomfort about the whole ship situation, I felt sick to my stomach even before training began. You could imagine how horribly my stomach reacted to the five laps of running we were ordered to do.

By the end of training, I was lying on my back and moaning something about wanting to kill everyone on the ship, women and children included.

"Aw, Akira-San," Hiro began to comfort me, "I can carry you back to your room if you'd like." Now that he mentioned it... I lifted my arms like a feeble child and grinned.

"I love you, Hiro." He smirked.

"I know." The boy easily lifted me up in his arms.

"Akira, you're going to be as fat as a whale when you get older if you can't even handle this easy training session," Roka mocked, acting as sensitively as he usually did (note the sarcasm). Hiro turned his smile to Roka, though the cheerfulness in it was somewhat frightening when paired with the albino's following words:

"Watch yourself, Roka-San." Even Roka with all of his confidence and vigor looked a little shaken. C walked up just then, holding up his precious schedule.

"It's your afternoon break," the blonde informed us. "You have exactly two hours to eat lunch and do whatever it is your little hearts desire." A grin grew on our faces. "No, you cannot wreak havoc upon the unsuspecting public, Roka and Akira." Roka huffed and I frowned.

"So, you don't think Hiro's going to bother other people?" I demanded haughtily. C raised an eyebrow at me. "Fine," I muttered. "Come on, Hiro, take me to the food court."

"Yes, Akira-San."

"Hey, guys, wait for me!"

Once we reached the food court, Hiro gently set me to my feet. I thanked him and proceeded to lead the way inside the cafeteria, which was teeming with people. Some of them were civillians- you could tell by how relaxed they were, their muscle density, and the way they completely let their guards down- but you could tell there were plenty of shinobi there as well. At first glance, the ninja looked like your average people, but take a closer look, and one would notice how much stronger they were, how much more tense they seemed.

It was actually quite interesting to see.

The three of us walked into the lunch line, which had three rows of food and a few chefs standing by each one. We grabbed some plates and walking around the buffet line to find food for us. I walked around a little, feeling a bit surprised that none of the food actually looked appetizing to me at that moment. Even when I grabbed a bowl of piping hot ramen (the last one), I didn't feel any kind of attraction towards it. Funny. I usually liked ramen. I mean, I knew I still felt kind of sick, but I should've been used to the boat by now (except you know I felt like screaming every time we hit any size wave).

"You okay, Akira-San? You look kind of pale," Hiro pointed out. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I guess I'm not that hungry." Hiro watched me for a moment, his golden eyes not blinking for what felt like an excessively long amount of time. I bit my lip. "What?" I asked, dropping my gaze to my navy ninja shoes. Hiro was silent for a moment as we began exiting the buffet line. And then:

"Nothing," he muttered. Hiro walked passed me, though I noticed he shared a look with Roka, who inclined his head in understanding. It made my blood boil, but before I could ask them about it, a loud shout grabbed my attention.

"What do you mean you don't serve Miso Ramen? What kind of buffet is this?" I looked over my shoulder to see who was yelling. He was kind of short for a guy, only an inch or two taller than I (and I was hardly 4'7''), with spiky blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes. There were also mysterious whisker-lines on his cheeks. I noticed Roka was glaring at the hollering boy, probably upset that he had managed to attract the gazes of others. "Are you sure you don't have any ramen? The menu clearly says here that you do," the boy continued. Still talking much louder than was socially acceptable.

"Listen, kid, the ramen's finished; it's pretty popular in these parts, ya know?" The news delivered from the chef did not satisfy the loud blonde, but he stalked off with crossed arms and an angry expression. I glanced down at my tray at the ramen bowl looking back at me. Then I looked up at the boy, who was starting to exit the lunch line as well.

What goes around comes around.

"Hey, Blondie!" The kid hesitated in his step and turned to look (um, glare) at me. Must not have appreciated my lovely nickname. Nonetheless, I held out my tray to him. "You want this?" Immediately, the blonde's eyes brightened and in seconds, he was before me.

"Are you serious!?" I nodded my head.

"Yea, go ahead, take it." He grabbed the tray with much gusto, but then paused.

"But, what are you going to eat? I can't take your food." I shrugged.

"I'm not hungry. Besides, you want this a lot more than I do. Take it." The blonde grinned at me, and opened his mouth to say something.

"Who's your friend, Akira-San?" Hiro asked, suddenly appearing at my side.

"Yea, I didn't quite catch his name," Roka added, standing at my other side. The blue eyed boy looked up at my two teammates who had a good six inches on him (well, five in Roka's case). I was a little amazed that he didn't seem the least bit fearful of them; Roka and Hiro had been instilling nightmares in the hearts of many boys back at Kumo, whether they were actually bullying me or not. And when they were (which thankfully wasn't often anymore) the two could get quite vicious.

"My name? It's Uzumaki Naruto," the boy proclaimed proudly. He looked to me again and grinned. "What's your name, lady?" Lady. Even though he looked to be about a year older than I.

"Her name's Chi Sakenomi Akira," Hiro answered. Quite foolishly. I elbowed him, because by now Hiro should've learned not to say my whole name during introductions.

I'd received too many wide eyed stares for it, and I was growing incredibly sick of it.

Strangely enough, Naruto didn't gawk/curse/gasp at me. Instead, he just continued grinning and turned to my teammates.

"So who are you guys? I can tell you're ninja! Are you going to Konoha for the Chunin Exams?" This kid sure was sociable. Roka and Hiro, still unsure if they could trust him, but knowing he wasn't trying to cause any harm, relaxed a little.

"My name is Himura Hiro," Hiro introduced, bowing slightly.

"And _I'm _Akiyama Roka, also known as the strongest ninja _ever_!" Naruto grinned at Roka.

"Oh?" he asked. I wasn't sure if it was a dubious 'oh' or what, but Roka viewed is as a challenge.

"Do you not believe me, Pipsqueak?"

"Hey, who ya callin' pipsqueak! I'm fourteen!" Hm, so he was my age... A smirk pulled across Roka's face.

"Exactly."

Before the two could get into an altercation, a firm hand clasped onto Naruto's shoulder, immediately quelling the boy's rage.

"Now, now, Naruto, that's no way to make friends," a large white haired man spoke. When I say large, I don't mean fat per say. I mean, the guy was built like a wall. He was tall, wide, and strong looking. Roka's macho-act died down considerably at first sight of the man. And I knew exactly why. The man standing before us, with long white hair and immistakable red marks running down his face...

His identity was further confirmed by Naruto's muttering of "But, Ero-Sennin," as he tugged on the man's red haori.

This man...

He was... _Jiraiya. _As in Jiraiya, one of the _legendary Sannin. _

* * *

**Just an update to move the story along. No, I did not throw Naruto in this for no reason. Well, I kind of did, but his being here justifies... other things. No he's not returning to Konoha just yet (he still has a year and some months to go). **


End file.
